Model System:

TBI

Reference Type:

JA

Accession No.:

Journal:


Arch Phys Med Rehabil.

Year, Volume, Issue, Page(s):

, 89, 5, 958-965

Publication Website:

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the psychometric properties of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18) among persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI). DESIGN: Inception cohort design with cross-sectional follow-up of 6 months to 15 years. SETTING: Rehabilitation hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Adults (N=257) with moderate to severe TBI (81 inpatients and 176 follow-up participants, analyzed separately). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The BSI-18 is a brief screen of psychologic distress with a Global Severity Index (GSI), and 3 clinical subscales: somatization, anxiety, and depression. RESULTS: Internal consistency of the GSI was high in both follow-up participants (alpha=.91) and inpatients (alpha=.84), whereas estimates for the somatization, anxiety, and depression subscales were more variable (alpha range, .61-.84). As would be expected for a measure of affective state, retest reliability estimates were only moderate. The BSI-18 GSI correlated with multiple measures of psychosocial adjustment. After accounting for demographics, injury severity, inpatient functional status, years since injury, and various psychosocial factors, the BSI-18 showed incremental validity in predicting concurrent functional, psychosocial, and psychologic status. CONCLUSIONS: The BSI-18 GSI had excellent reliability and validity among inpatients and follow-up participants. Modest reliability estimates may place an upper bound on the validity of the BSI-18 clinical subscales in inpatient TBI populations.

Author(s):


Meachen, S. J., Hanks, R. A., Millis, S. R., Rapport, L. J.